THE Voice of People Party (VPP) which was the most vocal exponent on the need to change the State’s Reservation Policy was not present on May 6 when the Expert Committee on the Policy was to discuss the findings and recommendations. The VPP’s reason for not attending the crucial meet was that it had to attend to other ‘pressing issues.’ This alibi appears flippant and suggests that the VPP is either not interested in the outcome of the findings and recommendations or that it does not have an alternative suggestion other than stressing on the population-based reservation between the three tribes – Khasi, Jaintia and Garo. Interestingly it was on the platform of the State Reservation Policy that the Party had built one of its most aggressive political campaigns with the Ardent Basaiawmoit the Party President going on a hunger strike on the issue. It was that expression of urgency by the VPP which compelled the MDA Government to constitute the Expert Committee.
The VPP along with the TMC are the chief Opposition parties in the present political scenario. Yet the VPP did not even consult other Opposition MLAs for a consensus on the issue. It preferred to go it alone. That is understandable considering that the TMC is a state-wide party comprising senior MLAs and former Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma, a Garo who would presumably not be open to reconsidering the State Reservation Policy. Besides, the VPP has never considered entering the Garo Hills and remains a Khasi-Jaintia Party perhaps with the intention of riding the wave of the “jaitbynriew” politics which has been the regional parties’ stock in trade for winning elections over the decades by whipping raw emotions that the “jaitbynriew” is in danger first from non-tribals and second from the Garos who are ostensibly taking away their share of jobs through the route of the Reservation Policy. The jaitbynriew politics has been around for over 50 years but has brought no significant change to Meghalaya’s governance and that is because there is a huge difference between politics and governance. Politics decides what should be done and that happens at the time of election campaigns where all political parties spell out their manifesto to the public and seek votes based on it. Once elections are over and done with, political parties that form the government and also those in the Opposition have to focus governance which decides how schemes are to be implemented on the ground and how the election promises are delivered. Political parties cannot resort to politics once elections are over. If politics dominates too much policies may become unstable or populist. If governance is weak even good political decisions fail in practice.
Unfortunately for Meghalaya political parties continue to play politics for the entire 5 years and do not follow up on governance. They don’t focus on the shortcomings of governance. It would be intuitive for instance to find out what suggestions the VPP has for tackling the biggest problem in Meghalaya today – the presence of thousands of schools which have five teachers teaching five students or schools with only teachers but no students. Should such schools be closed or should they continue to function and suck at the scarce resources of the state? Why can the VPP not give its recommendations on this critical issue? Politics has a sell by date. Ultimately people want tangible and visible results.
